User blog comment:Lathagarr Stormgale of Tronn/Debate/@comment-1607590-20101203213238/@comment-3143419-20101204151721

He is caring, loving and merciful to those who obey His commandments but He can also be a God of vengeance retribution and destruction to those that walk not in His ways. If He is such a nice person then you should be more than willing to do as He commands eg. Baptism. Baptism does not in itself remove sin. It is an act of faith. If he says go submerge yourself in water we do not say "but what if I don't? you're not going to punish me! You're too nice" we go submerge ourselves. Rather like Prayer. Prayer is not in itself necessary. God already knows exactly what we need, how we need it, where we need it and when we need it. Prayer is for the benefit of the person who is praying. God does not need our praise, He has all of creation to praise Him. Prayer is a test of faith. So is Baptism.